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Soulstorm/Harlequin
} | page = Soulstorm/Harlequin | name = Harlequin | type = Commander | icon = Harlequin_icon.jpg | decorator = Dow2 dec anti infantry melee.png | race = Eldar | tier = 2 | built = Webway Assembly | armor = Commander | squad_def = 1 | squad_max = 1 | health = 625 | health_regen = 1 | mass = 10 | speed = 24 | sight = 35 | keen = 35 | requisition = 125 | power = 125 | vehicle_cap = | time = 30 s | description = Specialized melee unit, great for disruption and commander hunting in packs. | game = Soulstorm | version = 1.2 }} Pre Requisite: Soul Shrine Infantry Cap: 1 Limit: 3 Description "Let your enemies fear, for a Harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side." Harlequins are the servants of the Laughing God, Cegorach, the only Eldarin God that did not perish at the hands of Slaanesh. They travel between Craftworlds and other Eldar settlements reenacting great battles of the Eldar Past and Myth. Specials Harlequins detect invisible enemies by default (passive ability) without requiring upgrade. Useful when Warlocks in Guardian squads have become obsolete, but Seer Council is not yet available. Their special abilities are Dance of Death and Harlequin's Kiss. Dance of Death allows the Harlequin to jump from one infantry unit to another sending them flying through the air and scattering the squad, reducing it's effectiveness. The Harlequin's Kiss does a huge amount of damage to any non-Commander infantry unit, dealing 4,000 damage to the unit it targets and dealing 200 damage to all others in proximity. This is enough damage to outright kill most units that are targeted. Unfortunately, the Kiss cannot discriminate between members of a squad, which means that there is a chance of hitting a unit that is about to die anyway. However, the Kiss works against Daemon Armor (save Daemon_High) and excels against single unit non commander infantry squads such as Broadsides, Crisis Suits, Krootox and Heavy Weapons Teams. Note, Harlequins cannot target a commander that is attached to an infantry squad with the Kiss. Tactics Harlequins are specialized melee units, great for disruption, and commander hunting in packs. Due to their relative frailty, the potential of Harlequins are often realised best either when combined with a Falcon to ferry them directly into the midst of ranged squads via jumping (large masses) or manually (smaller mass), or by leading them in with another melee squad, such as Howling Banshees. This is especially true vs players as opposed to AI because the player will need to manually target the Harlequin and cannot rely on the F2 key (stop) to allow the ranged units to auto target. (Units firing on auto will generally always target the nearest threat that meets their best unit default targeting AI and do not discriminate between different targets of the same type). The use of Hot Keys to select the harlequin(s) and also to enable specials is preferred due to the relative difficulty of selecting a single narrow squad with the mouse (either manually or via drag and select) not to mention the added time required to move the moue across the screen to the unit and then back to the special box in the bottom right hand corner. This is also applicable when jumping via falcon into the center of a mass of enemy infantry and ejecting the unit(s) underneath the flying falcon where selecting the multiple harlequins with the mouse and enabling specials increases the time requirement by 3 when doing it manually by mouse. Example: 1. Falcon Jump into center of enemy massed infantry. 2. Eject all Units 3. Hotkey Harlequin Group 4. Hotkey Dance of Death. This effectively allows you to start all 3 harlequins dancing within half a second, as opposed to the 6 or so seconds it takes to do the same thing manually. If the enemy massed infantry is large, then sometimes it is worth not bothering to eject the Harlequins, just wait for the falcon to blow up and follow steps 3 and 4. As soon as the Harlequins are dancing they are far less vulnerable to ranged fire due to the reduced accuracy of targeting a dancing Harlequin. This can break up very large groups of enemy infantry long enough for Howling Banshees to close range, and with fleet of foot turned on they can't escape. Counter Tactics If you have massed infantry taking out a Harlequin should be the highest priority especially massed ranged infantry due to its ability to scatter your ranged units far and wide, reducing their concentrated effectiveness, and allowing them to be engaged in melee over a much larger area. Any vehicle is preferred because Harlequins have no anti vehicle ability and no anti vehicle weaponry. When facing Harlequins with infantry only, it is preferred that you send in a more expendable melee unit and pelt it with massed firepower at long range. Mortars are very effective as they slow the advance or the Harlequin by knocking them over, and they are still vulnerable to fire while getting back on their feet. Sorcerers Chains hold a Harlequin. Tau Commanders Targeted Strike does high damage. Do not engage a Harlequin with a commander; should you win, your commander will likely have taken heavy damage. Source: http://web.archive.org/web/20100810084058/http://wiki.reliccommunity.com/index.php?title=Harlequin